What is the general feeling of Matt Ryan?

[JoeyTourettes]

I'm going to the source... Matt Ryan.

130 completions- 11 TD's 6 INTS... 1500 yards- 2-3 record.

Do you blame him for team struggles/record? Blame the defense? Do you still have confidence in Matt Ryan moving forward?
Just curious...

 

[bravesfan]

Any logical fan will blame the defense, they suck on the road. At home with crowd noise, they do okay. Right now the falcons are 29th in team defense, and after the CHI game, they'll be dead last in team defense

Matt Ryan is our guy

 

[bravesfan]

Plus the falcons have had serious injuries on the o line, 3 starters out for the year. Baker, Hawley, and Holmes

 

[JoeyTourettes]

thanks was just looking at stats- I haven't really focused on a falcons game, so don't know, much of what Ryan's done this year.
Jay Cutler and Ryan have almost identical stats. Seriously- it's kinda creepy.
In Chicago Jay's getting killed/blamed for a lot. Just wanted to know if Matt is getting any of that too? Or is he still generally everyone's guy and it's more about the defense/oline/coaching.... whatever.

(also- I really like Matt Ryan and wished the Bears drafted him back then too- I like Cutler too, and it's exhausting defending fending him)
Thanks...it's going to be an interesting game- if total points aren't above 55 something went very odd.

 

[Demonjoe93]

I blame the head coach, injured o-line (three starters out for the year), and our horrible defense.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

No...I don't think Ryan should've been re-upped early..I would've let the season play out 1st and see where the market really is for him.

That said...imo the Falcons have been built with fools gold on some level. They look good on the exterior, but when you raise the hood and look in the trenches...not so good.

It seems like Dimitroff needs to see it fail and then respond....great season in '12, but a lot of close wins...somebody decided they could replace 3 starters on the OL with players that had never started at those position, and they get rid of their best pass rusher, in lieu of Osi...4-12 in '13 oh, now we gotta fix the OL & DL ...so they draft Matthews and bring in Soliai and Jackson. All good players, but you don't just plug guys in and win unless the nucleus is already in place...Dimitroff is trying to plug in the nucleus.

The point here is there doesn't appear to be a consistent plan of how to build the team. On top of that Smith is a decent coach, but he's proven so far that he can beat teams with lessor talent, but will lose to teams with equal talent.

Anything less than the playoffs and Smitty will probably not survive, and imo Dimitroff should not either.

 

[night]

The offensive line production has deteriorated quickly with us. Ryan is still a pretty good QB and I don't see us letting him walk. Defenses are putting a lot of pressure on Ryan these days and the running game is pretty terrible which puts more pressure on the QB to perform. Obviously the defense is terrible but we seem to be following the old Lions plan by having decent skill players but basically nothing in the trenches. When you look back at the years we were making the playoffs the offense was eating at the time of possession to keep the awful defense off of the field. Without the clock control we're just not a good team.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

The offensive line production has deteriorated quickly with us. Ryan is still a pretty good QB and I don't see us letting him walk. Defenses are putting a lot of pressure on Ryan these days and the running game is pretty terrible which puts more pressure on the QB to perform. Obviously the defense is terrible but we seem to be following the old Lions plan by having decent skill players but basically nothing in the trenches. When you look back at the years we were making the playoffs the offense was eating at the time of possession to keep the awful defense off of the field. Without the clock control we're just not a good team.

OL...again...but imo Koetter is part of the problem...you're down to your 3rd option @ RT, backup C, lost your LG for a game or so...you can't keep the same 5 step, 7 step plays in the playbook...he needs some 3 step patterns...2nd, these LB depth patterns are getting JJ & Roddy laid out...yeah they had some drops last week, but CHI was getting some good pops on those boys too, I know he didn't have much time, but gotta push the FS off the line with something deep...both S were very active laying blows for CHI.

 

[night]

OL...again...but imo Koetter is part of the problem...you're down to your 3rd option @ RT, backup C, lost your LG for a game or so...you can't keep the same 5 step, 7 step plays in the playbook...he needs some 3 step patterns...2nd, these LB depth patterns are getting JJ & Roddy laid out...yeah they had some drops last week, but CHI was getting some good pops on those boys too, I know he didn't have much time, but gotta push the FS off the line with something deep...both S were very active laying blows for CHI.

I definitely noticed that too. You could tell Julio, Roddy, and Toilolo were all thinking more about the guy who was about to hit them ahead of catching the ball. There was a play after Roddy dropped a pass from a big hit where Julio had alligator arms the very next play. I was telling my buddy that Chicago defense was in their heads early on in the game.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

I definitely noticed that too. You could tell Julio, Roddy, and Toilolo were all thinking more about the guy who was about to hit them ahead of catching the ball. There was a play after Roddy dropped a pass from a big hit where Julio had alligator arms the very next play. I was telling my buddy that Chicago defense was in their heads early on in the game.

Yep, it was in play for certain...the big cry here this week is why isn't Antone Smith getting more touches and Smitty gave a pretty lame answer...they don't want teams to get used to him or something to that effect.

Every game this year with at least 4 touches, he's made a splash play, and at least 4 have gone to the house...I was telling a guy from CHI last week before the game...watch out for #35, the kid has some jets...he sent me a text right after the play...oh...THAT #35...lol.

 

[night]

Yep, it was in play for certain...the big cry here this week is why isn't Antone Smith getting more touches and Smitty gave a pretty lame answer...they don't want teams to get used to him or something to that effect.

Every game this year with at least 4 touches, he's made a splash play, and at least 4 have gone to the house...I was telling a guy from CHI last week before the game...watch out for #35, the kid has some jets...he sent me a text right after the play...oh...THAT #35...lol.

I wouldn't mind seeing him getting more touches. He is definitely not #1 material though. I'd rather see Smith get a jump in the depth chart above Jaquizz since he seems to be a dud. I also wonder at what point they finally let Freeman get the #1 spot or a share of the touches since Jackson seems to have nothing left in the tank.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

I wouldn't mind seeing him getting more touches. He is definitely not #1 material though. I'd rather see Smith get a jump in the depth chart above Jaquizz since he seems to be a dud. I also wonder at what point they finally let Freeman get the #1 spot or a share of the touches since Jackson seems to have nothing left in the tank.

Smith is not a 20 carry a game RB and I think that's what Smitty was trying to say, but 8-10 touches a game...4-5 handoffs, a screen or two, split him out...he's a dangerous player in space...Quizz just doesn't have the burst you want from a guy his stature, you have to get him to the hole clean to be effective...Sjax is really the same way...get him to the hole clean and he will get you 3 to 4 yards every time, but the OL can't deliver that...Freeman is the future #1 RB, but he's not totally up to speed on pass protection which is why Quizz gets as many snaps as he does.

Next year I can really see Sjax and Quizz on other teams.

 

[night]

Smith is not a 20 carry a game RB and I think that's what Smitty was trying to say, but 8-10 touches a game...4-5 handoffs, a screen or two, split him out...he's a dangerous player in space...Quizz just doesn't have the burst you want from a guy his stature, you have to get him to the hole clean to be effective...Sjax is really the same way...get him to the hole clean and he will get you 3 to 4 yards every time, but the OL can't deliver that...Freeman is the future #1 RB, but he's not totally up to speed on pass protection which is why Quizz gets as many snaps as he does.

Next year I can really see Sjax and Quizz on other teams.

Oh yea, I agree. I didn't mean to say make Smith the #1, I meant make him the #2 guy since he seems to be more effective than Quizz. If Jackson isn't the #1 the only guy on the roster who makes sense to take that spot is Freeman.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Oh yea, I agree. I didn't mean to say make Smith the #1, I meant make him the #2 guy since he seems to be more effective than Quizz. If Jackson isn't the #1 the only guy on the roster who makes sense to take that spot is Freeman.

In BAL it wouldn't have mattered...down 14-0 in the 2Q...Keotter more or less abandoned the running game anyway, nearly every snap was from the shotgun.

He's making a lot of money, so maybe I shouldn't but I really feel bad for Matt...aside from the 5 sacks, he got drilled a handful more times and actually started paying attention to the pass rush...a few times he had enough time to get rid of it, but he was not looking downfield...uncharacteristic of his play, but I can't blame him.

What's really bad here imo is the Falcons are going to stick with Baker b/c he's owed a ton of cash and maybe he'll be a better RT...I have a silly feeling if they keep this same staff (hopefully not) they will try to move Baker back into the LT slot and shift Matthews back to RT.